Medicare For All
Tennesseans are in a healthcare crisis: rural hospitals are being threatened and closing, our maternal mortality rate is dismal, premiums are increasing as a result of congressional inaction on this issue, and families are feeling the brunt.
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In a single-payer healthcare system, families are no longer required to be under the direction of a private company. You could get healthcare without having to check which doctor is in-network. You could get healthcare without having to pay co-pays, premiums, or deductibles. You could get healthcare without worrying about your employer's benefits or whether drug prices are capped. Vision, hearing, and dental care are comprehensive in a single-payer healthcare program, and include mental health services that offer addiction support and care.
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You are entitled to the care you deserve because healthcare is a human right, and no family should be choosing between seeing a doctor and their rent or mortgage, or be in insurmountable medical debt that threatens their quality of life. When our neighbors are healthy and taken care of, spending will go down and our economy will improve.
Affordability
Families in Tennessee District 5, from the southwest corner in Shelby County to the northern border with Kentucky, and winding down towards Williamson County, have been facing increased costs while wages stayed stagnant, workers became unemployed due to the disastrous tariff policy that hurt consumers and small businesses, and individuals are discouraged from pursuing unionization.
Rising grocery, fuel, utility, healthcare, child care, and housing costs all contribute to feelings of frustration and stress. ​Economic ebbs and flows are expected, but prolonged suffering due to policy without efforts for relief is not. This hurts our wallets and the opportunities for our families to thrive. While Tennessee promotes its affordability to encourage people from out of state to live here, many Tennesseans are being priced out.
​It does not have to be this way, and I understand, as a mother raising a small child in this economy, that there are fixes and policies that can ease the burden families across this district face, and you can trust that I will advocate for nothing less.
Environmental Justice
Even in the debate surrounding climate change, we can all agree that our homes and infrastructure are lagging behind our changing weather patterns in both the winter and summer. Farmers can agree that the drought and rising costs for materials should be raising alarms. Our children are being poisoned by lead pipes. Our air is being pumped with gases and chemicals that exacerbate respiratory disease and cancer rates in our District 5 due to data centers that make promises and are held to no account when they change direction. District 5 is home to one of the cleanest aquifers, which is being depleted and abused. ​
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This fight is not only for us, but for our children who are drinking this water and breathing this air. We cannot allow the degradation and weakening of environmental protections for private interests.
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This planet is for generations to come, and without taking a stand now, the environment we see, our grandchildren will not. I believe in the science and will commit to pursuing legislation that protects our nearly 7000 square mile district in the face of those that want to exploit our beautiful and giving land.
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Rural Priorities
District 5 is home to rural areas that are beautifully diverse in geography and function, but united by friendliness and common issues. Many of our rural neighbors are worried for their operating costs on their farms in relation to how much they are able to sell, the price of everyday goods, wages that cannot keep up, and lack of hospital infrastructure to take care of them in their greatest times of need.
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Couple that with the fear of data centers eyeing their land and housing developments building homes unaffordable to those very residents of that county.
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We owe it to our rural neighbors to uplift their communities in the same way we want ours. That can only happen if we elect leaders with the empathy and leadership to make it happen.
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Accountability
On this 250th year of our Republic, we have seen more harm committed against it than ever before. What makes this time different is that Congress has forgotten its purpose and oath to our Constitution. As congressionally mandated agencies were wiped away, the majority failed to act. Protections for our children in education are disappearing and being weakened. Survivors of heinous treatment are not getting justice for their truth.
Yet, while all of that happens, our Representatives and Senators become richer, as Tennesseans are struggling.
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It seems to be lost on elected officials that the seat they were elected to is not to be used to enrich oneself, or use the office for immunity from unethical practices or investigations.
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If we as common people are to be held to account, then it is past time for those in office to be held the same.
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